Band of The Authors
by Journalist793
Summary: Percy Jackson isn't the hero this time, for he has been kidnapped by Kronos. Who's to save him? None other than the authors here on fanfiction. CHAPTER 5 NOW UP!
1. Trouble Right Here in New York City

Okay, here are the Characters that you should know:

Amy………………………..Journalist793

Rainy………………………xXxRainyxXx

Julia………………………...ink-splotter08

Sunshine……………………XxXLoVe-ThE-sUnXxX

Sarah………………………..Snb793

**(A/N: IN case you're wondering we did try to get Short and KG, they never responded so we took it as a not) **

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Amy's POV 7:42 AM

Don't you love it when you wake up to a nice, peaceful "good morning"? Yeah, I do, too. Too bad my stupid family doesn't see it that way. I swear, I once woke up with a kid sitting on top of me asking me to play dollies with her. "No," I had said, and tossed her out of my top bunk. If not for Julia catching her, she probably would've broken her neck.

Julia always loved kids, she thought that they were adorable and should be waited on hand and foot. She nearly bit my head off when she caught me tossing toddlers from 12 feet in the air. She probably would've if Sarah hadn't stopped her.

Sarah was a peacemaker. She hated fighting and always pulled people out of them. Sarah thinks that the true way to defeat Kronos is to show him understanding and sympathy and settle our differences. I say let the bodies hit the floor.

Anyway, back to what I was saying before my family led me off topic (they always do that!). I woke up to a buzz in the cabin. People were already running out the door. In what a I hoped to be a cool superhero-like move, I jumped out of my bed and tried to get some Catwoman powers to kick in. It didn't work, my knees buckled and I came back up with somebody's dirty sock in my hair. "Eew," I said in a restrained voice, but loud enough to be heard. "Get it OFF!"

Julia plucked it off my head. Her Dishwater blonde hair was combed back perfectly, sitting on her shoulders, which bore the sleeves to her brown T-shirt that read "Get your own chocolate." Her bellbottom jeans were laced with a read stitching at the cuffs, giving her a look that said, "Great day for a picnic."

"What's the happening?" I asked, looking around as Julia hastily whipped the sock to the other side of the room and rubbed her hands to together before looking back at me.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, giving a shoulder sweep. "Some thing happened on Half-Blood Hill. Connor and Travis found out from the Aphrodite cabin. Something about a half-blood getting attacked on the way here, or something."

"Ouch," I said, combing back my chestnut-ish, stringy hair with Sarah's brush. "Is there, like, a dead body on the hill?"

Julia shook her head. "Nope. I'm not sure what it is, but something big."

Sarah materialized next to Julia and gave me an "Oh-no-you-didn't" look, taking her brush out of my hand. "It's the half-blood's mom that's on the hill," she said matter-of-factly. "She's going through a panic attack."

"How do you know?" I asked, pulling out a pair of red capris and a white shirt with a rabbit on it that said "Watership Down."

"Sunshine told me," she said. "She was the first one to find out. You know, she has the whole 'Up with the sun,' thing."

I nodded, picking up a pair of black converse. "Gimme two minutes," I said, and then went into the official Hermes Bathroom to change.

Sarah's POV 7:47 AM

As soon as Amy was out of sight, I turned and paced toward the door. "You ditching Amy?" asked Julia, laughing.

"No," I said defensively. "I'm just going to spread the word."

"Right," said Julia, rolling her eyes.

I held up my arms. "You tell Amy that I'll catch up with her later, but for now… I gotta go do something." With that, I turned and ran before Julia could protest. Her laughter rang through the window as I went looking for my friend, Rainy.

The Demeter cabin's lights were still out. For kids who could grow a morning glory with a snap of their fingers, they seemed to be the exact opposite. They liked to stay up late and sleep in.

I pounded on the door loudly. "Wakeup call," I shouted. "Everyone get their lazy arses out of bed!"

Delilah answered the door, scowling. "Rainy, it's for you," she said, a flower next to her wilting.

Rainy stumbled towards the door rubbing sleep out of her. Delilah gave her a look that both of us registered clearly: "Make sure that this NEVER happens again."

"I just thought that you guys might want to know that a half-blood, whoever it may be, got attacked just on the hill. Might want to check it out." I smiled, raising my eyebrows and giving me a perfect Hermes look that I had been practicing for weeks.

Delilah's face got a little softer. For a flower loving hippie girl, she loved blood at the same time. She had a thing for some Ares guy, and had grown into a love for war at the same time. "Oh," she said, seeming fully awake now. "Well, maybe I will." She smiled Maliciously.

_Sicko_, I thought to myself as Delilah licked her lips hungrily. I grabbed Rainy's hand and pulled her out of the cabin.

"Hey!" she said, hugging her arms. Oh yeah, she was still in her pajamas. _Oops._

"Sorry," I said, letting go so she could go back into the cabin.

Rainy rolled her eyes. "Think next time," she said, opening her cabin door, but then she stopped. "So what's up with this thing on the hill?" she asked, watching as more and more people ran past towards the hill.

"Some half-blood got attacked and their mom is up on the hill," I said, looking interested in my chewed up nails.

Rainy thought that over. "Wait for me?" she asked.

Smiling, I nodded. "Sure."

Rainy's POV 7:49AM

I turned back into my cabin, leaving Sarah at the door waiting for me. Delilah was in her bed, watching me pass by with an evil eye. "Is she going to wake us up every morning?" she demanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Get some ear plugs," I told her. "Then you can stop complaining about the noise and give us a little peace." Nobody rose to Delilah's defense.

Pouting, Delilah turned in her bed to face her autographed poster of the Plain White Ts tacked to the wall next to her bed. In marker, along the bottom of the poster was a signature and a friendly message saying "Hey There, Delilah."

I padded into the bathroom quickly, eager to figure out what Sarah was so pumped about. I settled on wearing my blue jeans, which I had sequined myself, and a purple blouse with a V-neck. For good measure, I stuck a blue flower into my hair. Yes, now I was ready to go find out who died.

Coming out of the door, I saw Sarah on the complete other side of the cabin rows. She seemed to be in a deep conversation with a blond girl who had her back to me.

I jogged up to Sarah. "You were so excited just a few minutes ago, and now you're ditching me?"

The blond girl that Sarah had been talking to turned around, and I quickly recognized who it was.

"Hey, Sunshine," I said, smiling.

Sunshine smiled brightly, showing off her Apollo smile that was so brilliant that you could almost hear Chip Skylark in the background singing "My Shiny Teeth and Me."

Sarah looked startled. "Sorry… I'm—"

"Yeah, I know. You're ADHD," I said cutting her off. I shook my head. "Come on," I said, running to the hill. She followed me like an eager puppy.

Sunshine's POV 7:52 AM

Sarah ran off, leaving me once again bored. I looked around. Maybe I should go to the hill. Then I noticed a single shadow pass by the window of the Athena cabin. Strange, I thought that the whole Athena cabin had left to help out on the hill.

I jogged to the cabin and opened the door without knocking. It was empty, except for one person sitting at her desk.

Annabeth looked up, startled. "Oh, that's okay, just come on in." Yeah, Annabeth was bad at sarcasm…

"Why aren't you up at half-blood hill?" I asked her, tucking back my hair.

"I don't have any interest in seeing a grown woman cry…" said Annabeth. She shook her head and went back to her sketch.

"Aww, come on. I was just going over to see it myself."

"No thanks," said Annabeth.

I sat down at her table and stared at her. She ignored it at first, making an effort not to look at me. Finally, after about five minutes, she threw down her pencil and said, "FINE! If I go with you will you quit staring at me?"

I nodded.

"Okay, fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go." Then she ran out the door. Ah, the staring trick. It works every time.

I had to run to keep up with her. "You seem eager," I said, tripping and then coming back up. I started to hear the yelling once again.

"The sooner I get there, the sooner I can leave." She listen to the cries for a moment. "Why doesn't anyone get Chiron?"

I shrugged, which made for me tripping again. Annabeth rolled her eyes and slowed down.

As we got a closer the cries got louder. Annabeth furrowed her brow, like she was trying to remember something.

Then we saw the woman and Annabeth paled. "What is it?" I asked her.

Annabeth opened her mouth to reply, but only a horrible, piercing scream came out. The woman and Annabeth locked eyes. Again, Annabeth screamed and ran forward. Nobody got in her way. In fact, everyone got out of her way.

"Annabeth," said the woman, and for the first time I got an actual good look at her. She had brown hair with a gray streak here and there. Her eyes were wide, but soft, and her face was tear streaked and red.

"Mrs. Jackson…" whispered Annabeth. My soul within me turned icy cold. "What happened to Percy?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Hey! Thanks for reading! I'd just like to say that this story is not entirely mine. I couldn't have written it without xXxRainyxXx, Snb793, ** **XxXLoVe-ThE-sUnXxX, and ink-splotter08. Oh, and sorry that I didn't get a Julia POV in, but just at the end I started to get writers block, so I had to end it there. I'll get her in next chappie. :D **


	2. Something Bad is Happening at Camp

**Here's some new characters you should know!**

Kris……………Shorty

Lizzy (Liz)……. KG

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Kris's POV 7:53 AM

Oh, gods… this is bad. Not only is dad gonna be really ticked about this and probably not give me that raise in my allowance, but this was bad for everyone, all around. Wait… didn't I hate Percy? Yeah, he was the guy I always made fun of, so maybe this was a good thing. No… wait a second… wasn't he the guy that was supposed to decide the fate of Olympus and probably get us all killed if the wrong choice were to be made? Oh, yeah… okay this officially sucked.

The woman wailed. "They took him!" she cried. "I was driving him here and we got attacked. There were too many…" she cried again, reaching out to Annabeth, but her hand being stopped by the invisible boundary line that protected camp.

Annabeth wiped tears out of her eyes, shaking. She turned to the crowd, making a noise somewhere in between hyperventilating and panting. "Somebody get Chiron!" she gasped. "Now!"

I jumped at the urgency of her voice. "I'll do it," I volunteered, turning and running down the hill. "Maya," I said, and my shoes kicked in, growing long wings and lifting me off the ground. Yeah, Dad was a pretty good shopper around my birthday.

Now, I know that I shoulda gotten Chiron as soon as possible, but I decided that I had to make a quick side stop. First I had to drop by my friend, Lizzy.

I stopped once I was over the Apollo cabin, hanging in the air for a split second, and then took a nosedive, aiming for the door. I hit a window instead, smacking into the glass with a satisfying _THUMP_. I was on the ground for a few seconds, dazed.

Then a door next to me creaked open and some feet came padding towards me. A shadow passed over my face, and I turned my head to see Lizzy.

"Hey, Liz," I greeted her casually.

"Hi," she said, looking at me with a "why do you always do this to me" look. "What'cha doin'?"

"Oh, just decided to drop in," I said, smiling and sitting up.

"That was so predictable," said Lizzy, shaking her head at my wannabe-cool line.

"Maybe for you," I said, pulling myself to my feet. "You can see the future."

She hit me in the shoulder. "You know that's just a stereotype to Apollo kids," she argued.

"It may be, but your dad is the master of the oracle. Maybe if you really tried you could tell me what'll be in the mystery meat tonight."

"Wild boar, it's on the notice board," she said, doing a head roll that looked so fitting with her blond hair.

"What notice board?" I asked, not really as interested as I sounded. Then something ran through the corner of my eye.

I turned my head to see a flicker of chestnut-red hair along with a mix of a red and white outfit, followed closely by a brown and denim smudge. I craned my neck to get a better look at what was now running into the big house. It was my two half-sisters Amy and Julia, I finally deciphered, but why were they going to the big house?

Suddenly I jumped up, remembering what I had been doing. "They're stealing my job!" I shouted, only to realize that I had interrupted Lizzy mid-sentence while she was explaining about the notice board.

She looked at me like I had officially gone crazy. "What?" she asked.

I didn't answer. Instead, I grabbed Lizzy's arm and dashed toward the big house, her stumbling as I pulled her along. She didn't ask why, though. I had done a pretty good job of teaching her not to question my random moves, just like how she had taught the same to me.

I slowed when we neared the door pausing to catch my breath, Lizzy still staring at me, trying to figure out what was going on.

"They've probably already beat us to it," I sighed, crossing my arms and pouting, trying to make her feel sorry for me.

"Beat us to what!?" she demanded, having put up with her confusion long enough.

Julia's POV 7:57 AM

"Which room does Chiron sleep in?" asked Amy, looking down the hall at all of the doors.

"Maybe he sleeps up with the Oracle?" I suggested brightly.

Amy gave me one of her world famous "Are you crazy" looks with a twist of Amy personality. "What?"

"Well, excuse me for giving Chiron the benefit of the doubt as to why he never goes out on dates. Maybe he's married to the Oracle, and that's why he keeps it." I laughed whole-heartedly. "I can already see the couple name! Chiracle! Or maybe Orachiron? Or maybe…"

"Julia!" said Amy, snapping her fingers in front of my face. "The camp could be in mortal danger and destroyed at any moment, and you're worried about Chiron's love life!?"

Behind us, someone cleared their throat. We turned to see Chiron standing down the hallway with his tweed jacket pulled over his nightshirt and a lopsided nightcap sitting on his head. "I don't know what I should be more worried about," he said, crossing his arms across his chest and flicking his tail, shaking loose a few curlers. "The camp being in mortal danger, or Julia worrying about my love life."

"Chiron!" exclaimed Amy. "We got some bad news."

"What kind of bad news?" he asked nervously.

Amy made a dramatic pause, which was really annoying the heck out of me, so I decided to break it to the horse dude myself. "Percy got kidnapped on his way here," I said.

Amy slapped my shoulder with the back of her hand. "I was gonna say that!" she said in a whiney voice.

Chiron stumbled on his hooves and then grabbed onto a lamp table that sat next to him. For a few moments, there was and awkward silence. Chiron was bug-eyed, trying to accept this all.

Our perfect quiet contest, though, was ruined by the door slamming open, and you could hear some shoes stumbling against the wooden floor. "Chiron!" shouted a familiar voice urgently. "Percy got kidnapped by Kronos!"

Kris and Lizzy stumbled in, tripping over each other to get in first. They were panting as if they had just run marathon, looking worried, but still had that signature look that made you think they would blow at any second.

"Chiron! Did you hear us! Percy's mom is up on the hill just outside the camp borders!"

Now Chiron decided to get his horse butt into action. He galloped down the hallway, not even bothering to wait for us, and out the door. Kris looked down the way he went, and then at us. "How 'bout them Yankees?" she asked Amy.

Amy, not having the time or patience to talk, brushed away the question plainly by running after Chiron on her swift feet. I sighed as if I were exasperated. "Never has time to stop and chat, that one," I said, saluting Kris and Lizzy and then running after her.

Sarah's POV 8:00 AM

Oh, gods. I never knew Annabeth could be such a sissy. I mean, I knew she felt really strongly about Percy and the thought of anything happening to him made her woozy, but I was not expecting it when she conked out unconscious at my feet.

Rainy ran forward, and knelt by Annabeth immediately, closely followed by Sunshine. The flower in Rainy's hair had begun to wilt, which I had only seen happen once before when Rainy's boyfriend had been eaten by a Minotaur, but other than that it was always perfect sitting in her hair with just the right tilt.

Sunshine went to Ms. Jackson. "How long ago did it happen?"

Ms. Jackson said between sobs, "A half hour ago. It was as we passed Montauk. They dragged him right into the water and onto their boat."

Sunshine quivered. "This is bad," she concluded. No sooner than she said that had Chiron came racing behind her, spilling curlers in a path that led back to the big house. He looked really ticked

It turned out he was ticked! He nearly trampled Annabeth, and probably would have if not for Rainy. He skirted around them and confronted Ms. Jackson immediately. "Sally," he said seriously. "What happened?"

"They kidnapped Percy on his way here," she said, wailing, reaching out in vain once more.

Chiron held up his hand. "I, Chiron, give Sally Jackson permission to enter Camp Half-Blood."

Ms. Jackson toppled in, only to be caught by Chiron. She sobbed into his shoulder, having an absolute breakdown. It was the strangest sight I ever saw; a mortal woman crying into a grim-looking horse-man.

Chiron seemed bewildered, as if he weren't able to think straight. All he could do was pat Ms. Jackson on the back as if she were a child and tremble.

No one spoke. No one knew what to do, and, for what seemed like hours, we just stood there, imaging what they might be doing to Percy.

I looked back at Rainy. She was usually the one to break the silence and get down to business. She and Amy were standing next to each other with Kris and Lizzy behind them. Somebody grasped me hand and trembled, and I looked over to see Julia. But she didn't look scared or hurt. Then who was trembling.

Then it downed on me. I was trembling. I was crying. Julia was trying to comfort me. How come I had to have emotional episodes like this when my half-sisters could watch this blankly?

Finally, Rainy spoke up. "We need a quest," she said emotionlessly.

Everyone looked at her. She and Amy looked at each other, as if having a mental conversation. Something passed between the two of the, and Amy nodded. "We need a quest!" she shouted.

Kris and Lizzy gave sly grins, and clapped their hands as if this were a baseball rally. "We need a quest! We need a quest!"

Julia and Amy joined in. "We need a quest!!! We need a quest!!!"

Then Rainy and Sunshine. The whole camp was catching on quick. We shouted it over and over until we were so loud that Hades was probably hitting his ceiling with a broom to shut us up. "WE NEED A QUEST!!!! WE NEED A QUEST!!!!"

Chiron held up his hand and a silence passed over us all. "Indeed, we do need a quest," he said. "We shall prepare today, and the quest shall be launched tomorrow," he said, nodding.

Rainy's POV 8:10 AM

I couldn't believe how casual Chiron was being about this. I mean, come on! The camp is about to be destroyed and he's putting off worrying about it until tomorrow.

"But just to settle this now," she Chiron, "Are there any nominations as to who should lead this quest?"

A few kids began shouting Annabeth. I didn't think that was too smart of a choice, considering she was laying at my feet unconscious, but hey; whatever floats their boat.

A few people called for Clarisse to do it, and I think that I even hear someone say the Stoll brothers. The fact was that nobody could agree, and even then a few fistfights broke out. Chiron did a facepalm and said, "Alright! Fine! All cabin leaders are to report to the Big House after lunch today."

Everyone moaned.

And that was that. Someone would go save camp, and although I'd never admit it, I was hurt. I had wanted to do this quest.

Now I see how stupid that was.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hey, thanks for reading! I'm glad that I was finally able to update this, I've been working on it for days! Thanks, Shorty and KG, for letting us use you guys as characters, you're awesome. Okay, sorry I took so long to post, I've had Writers Block which was kinda suckish. So anyway… please review!!! Thanks to everyone on fan fiction, because you are all awesome. :-)**


	3. Amy and Rainy's Imaginery

**Lizzy's POV 3:20 PM (That afternoon)**

I hung my head off of the top bunk, my golden curls falling in a curtain over the bed beneath me. If you have ever been stuck waiting for something really important that is about to change your normal, every day life dealing with having to be a demigod, then you'll know how I feel. If you don't, well, pretend like you do.

The doorknob began to turn. I sat bolt upright, which was a mistake as I found out. I toppled off the bed on my back. A face popped into my line of vision, smiling. "Gravity got you down?" asked Sunshine.

"Don't pretend like you've never fallen before," I said, pulling myself up.

Sunshine blinked. "No, believe me… I've fallen plenty of times."

"I didn't expect any less," I said, pulling myself back into my bed. "So, who's going on the quest?" I bounced excitedly.

"Annabeth, who else did you expect?" She wrinkled her nose and went over to a mirror next to her bed to check her hair for the 682nd time that day.

I made a face. "I was hoping for someone a little less queasy at the news of Percy in trouble. That quest is gonna be a fail-boat."

"Well, see if you can convince Chiron of that by sunset tomorrow."

I knit my eyebrows. "They're leaving at sunset tomorrow?" I asked, suddenly intensely interested. Maybe I should take that idea that Kris gave me earlier into consideration. Since everyone would be so anxious to get to the quest, no one would notice a couple of campers missing…

"No, I just said that cause I was in the mood for talking about sunset. Ya duh!"

I nodded, thinking hard, and then saying. "I'll be right back… don't let anything cool happen without me."

"I'll try to contain my coolness," promised Sunshine, rearranging a hairpin.

I turned and went out the door, heading for the Hermes cabin and trampling over a tulip that Delilah was growing while I passed the Demeter cabin. Delilah shot me a scowl, which I picked up out of the corner of my eye. I stopped and turned to her, giving her a thumbs up before going around the back of Hermes.

I stopped at the window that was next to Kris's bed (she had to win an arm wrestling match to get it). When I wrapped my knuckles against the glass, Kris's face popped up, looking pretty annoyed. "What are you doing," she muttered into the glass.

"Open up," I said. "We gotta talk."

She pushed open the window and leaned out, trying to slide her way out. Her plan didn't work too well, unless she was planning to fall on her face. "You couldn't have caught me?" she murmered into the dirt.

"Nope," I said. "Come on," I grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away from the cabin.

She shot me an angry look and stood up. "So what the Hades do you want me for?" she asked, brushing off her shoulders in an angry punk way.

"The quest is leaving tomorrow at sunset," I said. "It's gonna be lead by Annabeth."

"Very good, Lizzy," she said, clapping her hands.

"Oh, come on," I tempted. "Do you think that a bunch of anxious campers would notice two missing girls? Don't tell me you're already giving up on your own idea?"

"What idea? The quest?"

"No, the potato farm. Yes the quest!"

She seemed to be trying to remember her plan. Not like expected anything other; Kris forgets things a lot… "Wait, so you're serious? You really want to?" Now she looked positively overjoyed that I was going with one of her ideas.

"Well, we both know Annabeth's not going to make it anywhere on this quest, and I'm not in the mood for dying. Please?"

"Pssh, yeah! Ya don't have to ask me twice…"

"Alright," I said, smiling. Kris and I had done plenty of crazy things before, and this was gonna be the ultimate move that would put us in half-blood history forever. "Meet me on the hill before sunrise. Four O'clock?" I said it as more of an order than a question.

"Aww, do I have to?"

"Yes. Pack a bag tonight. See you then." I turned to leave.

"You're being real casual about something that could get you killed," she said.

I turned to look at her. "Being a Half-Blood can and will get you killed, Kris. We can't make our whole lives dramatic." With that, I back away into the bushes in an awesome, Batman-like move.

Rainy's POV 3:45 AM (The next morning)

Nightmares are even scarier in the dark. It's bad enough hearing creepy voices in dreams that you know are real, but when you can't see who the creepy voices belong to? That's just notches the fear scale up to eleven.

Take the dream I had tonight for example. I was in the dark, as if inside a closet. My head ached for some reason and I felt ropes wrapped around my arms. I felt myself being confused and scared, and I couldn't remember how I got here. But I heard the voices.

"Master Kronos, sir. I have done as you wished. I bring you the half-blood girl." The voice sounded scarily familiar, but I couldn't figure out who the girl was.

A deep and somewhat sexy voice chuckled. "Well done, my little spy. You have served well. For that, you shall be rewarded. First, take the prisoner to her chamber. I'll have a questioning of her later."

I found myself struggling against the ropes as I was being dragged. "No, let me go, you two-faced, backstabbing," and then I said some more words that aren't child appropriate.

"Shut up," hissed the voice, and then there was a smack on my ear. I cried out in pain and pulled against the ropes some more.

"How could you do this?" I asked. "I thought that you liked the camp and the gods. And what about your mom? She's never done anything wrong to you."

"Correction," said the voice. "She's never done anything wrong for me. Or good. Or neutral. She's never even called up to say hi."

"So?" I asked. "Do you think it's easy to run the universe? They all have jobs to do."

"And apparently one of those jobs doesn't have to do with watching out for your kids. Join us. Kronos is our father. He cares for us."

"Go to Tartaraus," I shot back.

The girl had stopped pulling on the chair now, and I got the sense that we were in a different room. I heard her start to walk away, probably towards a door, but then my voice came up again. "You have Percy here, don't you?" I asked, struggling yet again. There was silence for a moment, and then I felt my head turning. I opened my mouth, my eyes bulging though I couldn't see what I was looking at. I let out a gasp of terror and disbelief.

The last thing I hear was a door being slammed shut and a bar lowered on the other side.

**Amy's POV 3:45 AM (same time as Rainy's POV)**

Being deaf was scary as Hades, as my dream showed me. I mean, it was like watching a an old movie, where you can see what's happening but feel like you're missing out on half of it because you couldn't hear what was going on.

My head was pounding on the right side, somewhere around my ear, and I was trembling in fear and anger. I had no idea how I got here, but I kinda got the feeling I wasn't willing to come here or prepared because I was tied to a chair and in some silky golden pajamas. I could see that stitched into the knee was a picture of the sun.

In front of me, a blond girl was kneeling down in front of an insanely not guy with sandy blond hair and pure golden eyes. She was saying something, but I heard nothing but the buzz of silence. When the girl looked up, I was shocked beyond words. Bowing down in front of this guy was Delilah, daughter of Demeter.

The guy looked down at her approvingly, and seemed to give a speech. When he was done rambling, Delilah nodded her head and started to come towards me, then grabbed my chair and dragged me down a hall.

I felt my mouth moving, and the rage inside me seemed to come pouring out of my mouth. Delilah reached over and smacked my in the side of the head, which sent me giving out a small cry in my sleep.

She dragged me for a little while longer, talking to me all the way about something or another. I hated this dream so badly for not letting me hear anything. How useless was that

Finally, we stopped in what seemed more like a cave than a room. The walls were gray and round, a cracked porthole on the side. I couldn't see what was behind me, because I was staring in front of me at Delilah, who was beginning to leave the room.

Then I said something. Delilah stopped in her tracks and gave me a crooked smile, raising her finger to point to something at the back of the room. I looked behind me and my jaw dropped, pulling in enough air to fill my lungs, which was what I guessed to be a gasp.

Behind me was a bed. In the bed was an unconscious body that was breathing shallowly. It was battered and bloody, and it looked defeated. It was pale and pathetic. It was Percy.

I looked back to see Delilah closing the heavy metal doors, and deep in my soul I felt the boom of a bar being lowered on the other side.

I sat bolt upright in my bed, hitting my head on the bed above me. I didn't even care. I turned my head just in time to see Kris slipping out the door with a duffel bag.

**Sunshine's POV 3:40 AM**

Something hit against the window on the other side of the room, making an echoey _TAP_. It woke me up immediately, but I was so comfortable in my bed that I didn't want to get up. I lay in the dark, my eyes adjusting, and thought for a few seconds until the first tap was followed by a second.

I heaved a heavy sigh. "This had better be important," I grumbled to no one in particular as I got out of my bed.

I thrust the window open just in time to get hit in the face with a pebble. "What?" I hissed down to a person that I couldn't see because it was so dark out.

"Liz, is that you?" asked a voice from the ground.

"Who the—Kris? Is that you?"

"Sunshine?" asked Kris from down below.

I sighed. "Come around to the front." I looked down in the darkness, listening for Kris to walk away, until I heard the door open behind me.

"Sorry," said Kris. "I need Lizzy."

"Oh, well, she's right—" I swung around towards Lizzy's bed. It was empty. The sheets were ratted up as if she had been dragged out of it in the night.

"What the Zeus," asked Kris, beginning to go towards Lizzy's empty bed. In it was a note written in fancy cursive that took me a while to decode with my dyslexia as I looked over Kris's shoulder. I wished I hadn't decoded it. The note said:

Do not continue with your quest if you ever wish to see Lizzy again.

--Delilah

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Ooh, now that's a cliffhanger. Thanks for reading, I hope that you liked it. This was a really fun chapter to write, cause I love drama. And cliffhangers. Well, as long as they're my cliffhangers and I know what's going to happen next. Tehe. Anyway, thanks again. Oh, and if you want me to hurry up with the next chapter, a little motivation couldn't hurt. Yeah, you all know what I'm talking about. Do you like rectangles? I know I do. That's the shape that the review button is! :D Anyway, I promise I'll be fast with updating. But… there's always faster. Remember… rectangle.**


	4. Kris Feels So Small

**Sarah's POV 3:50 AM**

Zeus can be really annoying when he wants to be. Seriously, I was having this wonderful dream where the Scarecrow and the Tinman and I were skipping through the land of cookies and milk while I was trying to break in my new lion fur jacket when _CRACK!!!!_ … There was a clap of thunder and I flipped out of my bed. Luckily, I landed in a nice soft spot. Unluckily, that soft spot happened to be Julia.

"Oomph!" said Julia from under the sleeping bag, and I knew it was her 'cause if she were screaming with a pack of every other kid in camp, I would still be able to pick out her voice just fine. "What the f—" she stopped, remembering there were kids in the room. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, Julia," I whispered, brushing the hair out of my face as it blew wildly in the wind. Wait, why the heck is the wind blowing in my cabin?

I looked up to see that the door was wide open, swinging back and forth in the wild winds of the storm that was probably right outside camp. That was strange; the door was closed when everyone went to bed. It looked like someone had run out of the cabin and forgot to close the door in their hurry. "Dude, what's going on?"

"Oh, you know," answered Julia. "We're at war, it's raining outside, Kronos is planning to kill us, and you're on top of me."

I jabbed my elbow hard into the side of the sleeping bag, and Julia wriggled out of the top with an annoying smirk on her face.

"No, I mean what's going on with that?" I pointed towards the door.

Julia tapped her chin, pretending to think. "Maybe… someone left the door open?" I had to resist the urge to slap her.

"Nevertheless," she continued, "I would really appreciate it if you were to remove yourself from on top of me; I kinda need my internal organs."

I sighed. "So why _are_ you on the floor, anyway? I thought that you had a bed?"

Julia's smile melted. "Umm… no reason."

"You gave your bed to a kid again, didn't you."

"No!"

"Oh, really?" I stood up and grabbed on to the side of the bunk on top of me, pulling myself up to see an empty bed. Then I turned my head to the side to where Julia's bed was to see a little six-year-old with a teddy bear.

"You're a real pushover," I scoffed into Amy's empty sheets. I was about to say something else when that registered in my mind. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well I—"

"Forget it," I said, cutting Julia off. "Do you know where Amy went?"

"Why, she's not in her bed?"

"No…" I said stepping down.

"And you care because…?"

"Well, I'd think you would. You are her best friend."

"Not at four in the morning I'm not," she said, rolling over. I kicked her. She sighed. "What, you're telling me that you want to go out and find Amy?"

"I'm not gonna get to sleep until I do," I countered, stepping to the side as Julia thrust off the sleeping bag and gave an exasperated sigh.

"You're lucky that I'm so nice," she mumbled as she stopped in front of the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair. It didn't make it look much better.

"Yeah, you're a saint," I sighed sarcastically.

"And don't you forget it. Come on," she started toward the open door, peering out to make sure the coast was clear for cleaning Harpies. I looked over her shoulder because sometimes Julia could overlook things. We didn't see any harpies, but we did see something.

**Julia's POV 3:54 AM**

There was a single light in front of the Demeter cabin. I couldn't make out the figure next to it, but I sure as Hades wanted to. Suddenly I was a little glad that Sarah had fallen on me in the middle of the night (don't tell her!)

The wind slapped me in the face, and I had to squint so that my hair wouldn't stab me in the eye, but that made it all the harder to see. "What's that?" whispered Sarah.

I rolled my eyes. "Like I know?"

"Well, you keep insisting that you know everything."

I thrust my elbow back and hit Sarah in the stomach; not hard, just good enough to give her the message to shut up. Sarah laughed in her throat. I took another step out. "Well, we're not going to find out just standing here."

Sarah followed me a little timidly, being careful to keep a step behind me; probably just to stay out of reach of my elbow.

About half-way there, I could make out the figure as a girl leaning over in a poncho, trembling, but she didn't seem to be cold. I had a pretty good guess as to who it was. Sarah was already running forward. "Rainy!" she called.

Rainy, who was sitting on the porch, looked up. She seemed kind of troubled, like the way someone gets after they watch a scary movie, but when she saw us coming she plastered a smile on her face. "Oh, hi. Didn't see you guys there," she called, her voice a little loud as she fought against the wind to be heard.

I nodded as I came to the porch and sat down next to where she and Sarah were already sitting next to each other. "So…" I said, looking around. "What'cha doin'?" I asked in an annoying voice like Isabella.

"Nothing," sighed Rainy, letting her casual smile drop away. "Just need some time to think."

Sarah studied Rainy's face carefully before speaking. "What's wrong?"

"Why would you think anything was wrong?" asked Rainy Defensively.

"Well, _is_ there something wrong?"

Rainy looked away, suddenly becoming very interested in the moon. "I… oh, it's nothing. I just had a weird dream, that's all. I have to clear my head."

I searched the ground, trying to find something to say. I was about to pester Rainy a little more when I was so rudely interrupted… by screaming.

**Kris's POV 3:56 AM**

My mind seemed to be blown to pieces, because I could not link together what was happening. The words on the note in my trembling hand became meaningless symbols; just lines and wedges. There was talking around me. Was it Sunshine? Who was she talking with, and why was it so rapid and worried. Why was she worried? What was happening?

Amy was there, and she seemed to be hanging on every word that Sunshine was saying, her eyes seeming to be focused on something invisible. When did she get here? Had she followed me?

The questions swirled around me in a hurricane of confusion that I was drowning in. The piece of paper slipped out from between my fingers, and someone started screaming. I wanted to tell them to shut up, because the piercing pitch was only making it harder for me to try to sort out what was happening, but I became aware that my mouth was opened, and my voice was already being used. I was screaming.

The whole Apollo cabin jumped, there eyes wild and their muscles tensed as if afraid they would have to fight something off. Then they were hit by a wave of confusion.

I took this all in unconsciously, because as I screamed, a barrier seemed to break and a wall of knowledge hit me: Liz had been kidnapped by Delilah… and Delilah was threatening to kill her.

What kind of best friend was I? How could I let this happen to her? Now Sunshine was speaking loudly to be heard over my screaming. All of the Apollo cabin's faces became shocked. They were all looking at me.

My vision began to flash different colors. Was I going to faint? No, not in here.

I turned and charged out the door, plowing into three people, who were just approaching the cabin, which I later realized was Rainy, Sarah and Julia. I kept running until I was tearing through the forest, swatting trees aside. I splashed through the creek, jumped over one final bush, and then I had broken into a spot that no one had used for years: A deserted part of the beach with dead fish rotting in the sand and some hundred year old garbage.

That was where I collapsed in a heap, trying to sort everything out. Liz would know what to do if she were here… Why couldn't it have me that was kidnapped?

There was only one question that was shining brighter than all of the others, though. What am I going to do?

**Amy's POV 5:30 AM**

By the time we had found Kris, the sun was already rising. She was lying on her back in the sand, her eyes looking about as dead as the fishes that were next to her. She was breathing calmly, just watching the clouds roll by. I couldn't tell if she had noticed us or not.

Julia pushed away from me and drifted to sit by Kris's side. Sarah sat on the other side. Kris didn't look at them; she just kept staring at the sky.

"Kris?" asked Sarah gently.

Kris only sighed. She blinked a few times before going back to looking up blankly.

Rainy and I advanced to sit by her, too. I got down by Julia, and Rainy sat across from me next to Sarah. Sunshine took up a spot by Kris's head, and we all sat in silence for a while. Then Kris spoke up.

"So what are we going to do?"

Rainy and I exchanged glances; my hazel eyes meeting with her blue-green ones. It seemed like we were having a mental conversation, but I had no idea what it was about. Neither of us said anything.

Sunshine did, though. She intertwined her fingers, then undid them. "Well, what do you think you should do?"

Kris's eyes flashed up to Sunshine dangerously. "I know what I'm going to do. I'm saving Liz. What are you going to do?"

All of us were totally caught off guard. "What?" asked Julia, although she didn't need anything repeated.

"I'm going soon. I just…" she paused, her face dropping as she sat up. "I just can't do it on my own."

Nobody could meet anyone else's eyes. We just sat in silence, listening to birds announcing the morning. That was all that we heard for a few more minutes until, once again, sunshine broke the silence.

"I'll come. She is my sister, after all."

Kris nodded solemnly.

"I'll go, too," volunteered Sarah. She winced when she said this, remembering the consequences that might await her, but she didn't go back on her word. "I'll go," she repeated.

Rainy bit her lip as Sarah repeated herself, and readjusted the flower in her hair, her hands trembling.

"Heck, why not? I'm in," said Julia a little more cheerily than she looked.

Now Rainy sighed as she seemed to choose a side. "I guess I'll come, just to see what it's like on an actual quest."

I counted this up in my mind as the silence swallowed us again. That meant that everyone was going except…

Everyone looked at me expectantly. I bit my lip and blinked, weighing it all out. I had a lot to lose… but since when did I ever follow the rules? And how often does anyone get a chance like this?

"I'll come," I said. "But only because there'll be no one else to save your sorry arses when you stumble into trouble."

Kris kept her eyes down. "Thanks," she whispered. "Thank you, guys."

Suddenly, as if we had rehearsed it, we all hugged her, but it looked more like we were trying to pin her down. "No need, Kris," said Julia. "It's what friends do."

With that, we had all just made a huge commitment to each other. Whatever happens, we're all standing under the same umbrella.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Now the story is really unfolding! Alright everyone, I am REALLY sorry about how long I took to update. I mean REALLY REALLY sorry, but I have had the worstest writer's block. Also, I've had this really big project that I'm still working on, so it took me a while to get to this. I promise I will try to write the next chappie faster. Anyway, thanks for being to patient! I hope this chapter was worth the wait! If anyone has suggestions they wanna make, please tell me! **

**Thanks everyone! You all win E-Doughnuts for reading (first ten reviewers win a glass of milk to go with the doughnuts). Bye!**


	5. Liz's Hello

**Liz's POV, 6:00 AM**

I wasn't terrified, even though I should've been. Although, at the same time, I wasn't brave or confident about it all. I could feel each moment weighing down on me, like ticks of a clock getting closer to something long expected. Something horrible. It was like sitting beneath the pendulum's blade, it getting closer with each sway.

I sat in silence for nearly the whole rest of the night, my efforts to get out of the ropes never ceasing to a stop. Pretty much, the only thing on my mind was, _I have to get back to camp. I have to get outta here. I have to get back to camp. _The only thoughts driving me further was the mental image that I had of Kris's face when she realized that I was gone. What kind of person would put their friend through that?

I endured the cold darkness for two agonizing hours, my ADHD buzzing in my ears. I couldn't stand just sitting there. I had to get away; break free from it all. Finally, flushed with frustration by the stubborn ropes and drained of energy from feeling hopeless, I began to nod off to sleep, my golden hair falling in a shadow over my face. I was too tired to do anything, and too lost to try to push myself not to give up. Then I heard a voice behind me.

I guess the voice was meaning to say something like, "Umm... Hello?" or anything along the lines of "What the fudge are we doing here?", only it sounded a little more like babbling. I looked over my shoulder to the bed, where Percy was sprawled out on the busted, blood soaked mattress, staring at me.

"Oh, hey Percy," I said casually, as if we were passing each other in the candy aisle of Walgreens. "Good day for sailing, eh?"

"Umm... who are you?" Percy looked at me like I was some escaped lunatic from the crazy bin.

"I'm Liz. You know me, I'm the one who put the mayo bomb in your cabin."

Percy gawked for a few moments, and I was pretty sure that he stopped himself from screaming, "THAT WAS YOU!" Instead, he closed his eyes. "Alright, I'll play along," he sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure... I don't think I should be here. I guess I was kidnapped." Wow, that was smooth. Two hours of doing nothing but thinking sure has put me into a mellow state of mind.

"So... How do we escape?"asked Percy, looking at me desperately. Sheesh, you'd think that a guy who's been on 4 quests would know how to escape from anything and not bring shame to heroes around the world. Apparently not.

"I don't know," I answered. "You've been here longer than I have."

Percy groaned like I was unbelievably stupid for not having figured out a plan that he could take credit for. He tried to move, but flinched, and I suddenly noticed something that should not be: Percy's ankle was seriously messed up, twisted in an unnatural fashion.

I was about to ask him if he was alright, or how that happened or something, when the doors were thrown open and I saw three figures. My eyes adjusted to the light before I could make them out: Two Dracanae, and Delilah in the middle. She smiled like the biz notch she was.

**Rainy's POV 7:00 AM  
**

I guess I really don't know how I feel about this quest. I mean, all in all, it's very heroic: charging out into the world, where Zeus knows what's waiting for us, risking all of our lives to save Liz. Oh yeah, and Percy too… ya know, if we have time.

But I have a bad feeling about this, like how you feel when you're about to do something that you know is going to end badly. The more that I thought about it, the more problems came to mind, which was really bringing my optimistic mind down. I've been sort of programmed not to do stupid things, and this was really setting off my senses.

First off, we had know means of transportation. No biggie, but still worth mentioning. Secondly, even if we did have transportation, we have nowhere to go. Zero. Zilch. No idea at all where this demon psychopath was holding Liz and Percy. What are we supposed to do, stumble around and hope we run into them, or call them and make a dinner appointment?

Each possibility of horrible things happening came one after another, like I was wading deeper into a wave pool and the waves were getting higher, stronger, and heavier. My shoulders began to sag more and more, and by the time I had returned to the beach with my pack, I looked like I was doubled over in pain.

"Wow," said Sarah, eyeing my less-than-impressive stance. "We told you to pack light."

I kept quiet as I simply dropped my bag on the sand next to Kris, Sarah, and Julia's. "Where are Sunshine and Amy?" I asked, then I stopped. We all knew that Sunshine was in the bathroom, fixing her hair. "Where's Amy?" I corrected myself.

Kris shrugged, looking at her two sisters questioningly. Sarah held up her hands in a "don't-look-at-me" position, but Julia only sighed. "With Amy, you never know where she is. I'd say she's loading up on everyone else's goods."

"She's robbing her cabin?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

Julia jerked back like she was surprised by that question. "How long have you been at camp?"

I might've responded, but I was interrupted by Amy's call to us. "Incoming!" She fell out of the tree above us right onto... me.

"Okay... _OW_!" I mumbled into the sand.

Amy was cracking up. "That was awesome!" she shrieked, her thin body in an excited spasm of laughter, and I began to wonder what was so funny besides her falling out of a tree.

"How the Hades did you get up there?" asked Kris, staring at the branches of the trees Amy had broken.

Amy shrugged casually. "Some kids were chasing me cause I had their stuff, and some nymphs owed me a favor. I asked for a lift." She shook her head like that should be obvious.

"Told ya," smirked Julia.

There was silence for a few more moments before I broke it. "Hey Amy?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Could you, oh, I dunno, GET OFF OF ME!" My ribcage was starting to hurt as she laughed some more.

"Okay, fine. Sorry." She rolled off of me, and I coughed.

"Umm... should one of us go get Sunshine?" asked Kris, brushing back her hair and trying not to look anxious and psyched at the same time. As Sarah bent over to help me up, she continued, "It'll only be a matter of time before people notice that us and our stuff is gone."

I was silent for a moment, trying to see who would answer, but when no one spoke, I figured it might as well be me. "I'll go," I volunteered. "Maybe I won't get trampled that way..."

We all smiled at Amy's look of mock pain. "Need some backup?" asked t hat good friend who always had me back, Sarah. She flicked a lock of her dark hair behind her head.

I shrugged. "Sure. You can hold back the angry mob of kids waiting to chew out Amy."

"Thanks," said Amy, giving us a thumbs up as she walked over to stand by Julia. "That's what friends are for, eh?" She patted me on the shoulder as she passed.

I flinched, eyes watering out of complete instinct as she lightly hit me, and I tried not to get a pained look. Not that I could help it; it just brings back too many memories of that horrible past. Suddenly, a long buried mental image flashed in front of my eyes. _A small town in Wisconsin..._ And just like that, I was back to reality.

Thank the god of short attention spans that nobody noticed. "Come on," I said, grabbing Sarah's hand and venturing into the forest, moving fast as if I could outrun this long forgotten pain that I didn't need. "The sooner we leave, the better."

**Sunshine's POV 7:12 AM**

Going on a quest wasn't something I'd daydreamed about too often. I mean, I'm not saying that the thought never crossed my mind, but it just didn't seem like a kind of Sunshine-y way of life. I'd always seen myself doing something a little more--oh, what's the word? Autistic? No... Ostentatious! That's it!

Well, that's what I always looked at myself as. Someone who'd be up in front of the camera announcing what was happening, rather than being announced as doing something. (I guess maybe that's why I'd had my eye on becoming a game show or talk show host...) This isn't really making sense, is it? I guess that _I_ just don't make sense.

Anyway, that's what I had been thinking about as I sat in the bathroom, blow drying my hair until it had just the right amount of a fluffy aura to it. Unfortunately, I never got that far. Sarah and Rainy found me, both of them looking flustered, like they had something on their mind (of course, they probably did).

They didn't even have to say anything. I just picked up my pink and black backpack and nodded to them. "We leaving now?"

"No," said Rainy sarcastically. "We're gonna save Liz through web chat." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the door.

I looked at the ground. "If this is what the whole quest is gonna be like, wake me up when we get there," I mumbled. "You guys are terrible at the art of conversation."

Rainy sighed. "Sorry, Sunshine. I'm just kind of worried about this whole quest thing."

"What's there to be worried about?" I asked softly, coating the words with just enough sarcasm while reshouldering my backpack.

As we reached the path that led into the forest, something suddenly slammed into me, nearly knocking me over. I probably would've fallen into a mud puddle and have my clothes all jacked up if not for Sarah catching me long enough to get myself on my feet again. I blinked twice and said, "Hey!"

Amy, who had come racing down the path as if her shoes were on fire, turned to me with a distracted look. "Yeah?"

Rainy stared back at Amy, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Umm, Luke's demon cruise ship happens to be that way..." she jerked back her thumb down the path, where Julia and Kris were coming up.

Her thumb pegged Kris in the eye as she stumbled to a stop, trying to avoid it. Kris stepped back and rubbed at it. "You trying to blind me?" she asked with a twinge of laughing in her voice. Mood swings, or what?

Rainy cracked a smile. "Sorry, I was just..." she happened to glance back at where Amy had been to find that she was not there. Rainy cocked her head to the side. "That idiot, where is she going?"

Kris was now circling round the group, casually pacing like a caged lion. "We were just standing by the bags, talking about something or another, and she suddenly gasped and was all 'Oh noes, I forgot somethin'!' Then she turns, grabs her backpack, and starts running like she'd seen a ghost."

Julia shook her head. "Nah, Amy wouldn't run from a ghost. She's way into paranormal. Remember that time she sat on the roof for three hours at midnight looking for aliens?"

"Freak," I laughed through closed teeth.

"Yeah..." sighed Sarah. "That's why we love her."

Apparently, we didn't love her enough. When she came in silently behind us and popped up in a "KACHOW!" way, I screamed like a blond startled by toast popping out of the toaster.

"Amy!" sighed Julia, still winded from the run. "Why the Hades did you run off like that?"

Amy carefully patted her backpack, as if she were making sure it wouldn't fall from her back. "I told you, I forgot something."

"What's you forget?" asked Sarah, rounding Amy so that she couldn't run off again.

She seemed to struggle with this question, and stayed silent for a long time; probably trying to get up a good lie. Finally, she shook her head and wrinkled her nose. "I... can't tell you guys. It's just important that it stays, well... secret."

The reaction was a raised eyebrow that I gave to Kris, who gave it to Sarah, who gave it to Rainy, who turned to focus on Julia as she spoke up.

"Wait... which secret thing...?" she pondered aloud. "The one that's under Kris's bed or...?"

Kris stiffened. "_What_???"

Amy shook her head, completely ignoring Kris. "No... no, it's not that. I... I'm not gonna say it here. Somewhere else... maybe." There was a brief pause of silence as everyone gave a suspicious glance at Amy. Questions whirred through my head right now, but they could wait... maybe.

"So...should we get going?" I said, mostly just to break the silence. Everyone seemed to jump to attention at that point.

Sarah did her own little "kachow" up from where she had settled, and took her bag the Kris had brought with her (I guess that she didn't want to leave our stuff unguarded), hugging it close to her like it was a teddy bear."Okay!" She said, sounding more than excited about the quest than she should be. "Where do we start?" There was yet another pause of silence, and I was beginning to get frustrated. Rainy, taking interest in the conversation looked up.

"Well, I was thinking we could make our way north, through the forest. That will lead us out of camp, and when we hit the shore, we'll decide what to do from there."

Wait, something wasn't right here. She didn't say anything about transportation. Did that mean we were walking? What?!

Before I could complain, Amy smiled. "Sounds like a plan, let's get going!" she agreed, and she fingered a partially opened pocket in her bag once more before leaving. With difficulty, I kept my mouth shut, and began to walk alongside Kris.

In a sense, I kind of felt for Kris, I mean besides me, Lizzie was her best friend. You never saw one without the other. It was almost weird now, even uncomfortable.

We walked silently for the next few minutes once entering the forest. The sun was just about all in all above the horison and you could hear the faint sound of shouting campers who were already awake. I kept up my pace while walking, making sure not to fall behind. After a few minutes of totally jacking up my totally expensive shoes, which I soon realized was not a wise choice, I felt a small nudge from Kris. I pushed back a loose strand of dyed black hair from my face, and looked to her with a curious set of eyes that I hope potrayed "_What?" _A big smile spread across Kris's face as she leaned in to whisper something to me.

"You're it..." She tapped me playfully on the shoulder, and then made a running start ahead of us.

"Hey!" I shouted at her, as I started running, my baby-soft pink and black bag bouncing up and down on my shoulders.

"No tag backs!" I heard her shout back, following bursts of laughter. I smiled and turned around to the others and reached out my hand to tap Julia on the head. "Your it!" I said in a child like manor. Why was I doing this again? Eh, who knows. I guess that since we're all being so serious, we need a little relief. I took off running, Julia falling back.

"Hey, no fair!" she giggled. I didn't have time to look back, I had to focus on not falling or stepping in monster crap, but I heard her shout "Amy's it!"

From that, everyone was scattered throughout the forest, keeping out of everyone else's reach. I ran ahead to Kris, who was walking far up ahead, laughing between gasps. Smiling, I looked behind me. Julia, Rainy, and Sarah were running from Amy, who was trying to catch up to Sarah. Sarah swiftly leaped over a fallen tree, and kept running. Amy tried to make the same attempt, but failed. She tripped and one-eightied over the tree, her camoflouge back torn off her shoulders. I watched as the bag seemed to vomit it's stuff. Then the little flap opened, and out tumbled... a bracelette, maybe? No, it was a rock. Wait! No it's a... what the Hades is that?

I squinted, and leaned in closer. Again it shimmered, and changed. "Amy...?" Amy's face was completely pale, with a mortified expression.

There wasn't enough time for an answer. The next thing I saw was Kris's terrified face as an arrow flew at her, followed by many more.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Before I get into all the routine stuff, I'd like to start with saying how SUPREMELY sorry I am, but this turns out to be one of my most difficult stories. Writer's block seems to have taken over my life, and I've been grounded for the past two weeks, which did not help, so... I'm sorry for not updating for about a month or so. Totally my fault, and it's inexcusable.**

**Anyway, I actually did not write alot of this chapter. Rainy and I have made a connection, and now we're both writing this story together. We've edited each other's work and put together this chapter. Pretty cool, eh? I'm having fun :-) So just a few more things about this story: Me and the Author's have gotten together and decided that each chapter will get a theme song, and the chapter title comes accordingly. I'd just like to say that this chapter's theme song is one about Liz's starting POV, and it's "Hello" by Evanescence. I'm sorry that I've kinda seperated you from the story, Liz, but don't worry. You won't just be sitting around waiting to be saved, you'll have your fair share of spotlight. I promise! Also, in case you're wondering, the characters do have theme songs, and they  
**

**So, thanks for reading, everyone, and thanks for waiting! I hope it was worth the wait. Please leave a review, because it makes me feel special inside. So, if you have suggestions or critisism or just plain comments, please say. If something's bothering you about this story and you don't tell me, then I can't fix it, so PLEASE don't be a silent reader. Thanks everyone, this time I really will update faster. I guess things help when I leave off in a cliffie. Okay, now I'm gonna go, cause I'm gonna call my depressed friend, Candy, who hung up on me last night. Well, bye!  
**


	6. Little Mouse

**Amy's POV 7:30 AM**

I knew that the arrows were there, but I didn't care about them right now. I mean, my life is falling apart before my very eyes, like seriously. Sunshine knew my secret now… and once Sunshine knows something, you'd have an easier time keeping it on the down-low by plastering it onto a billboard on a busy interstate. Don't smile to yourself like that, I'm not kidding.

_Okay…_ I thought to myself, blank face as I stared down at the ground, my dear little friend trying desperately not to go into his spasm, but, see, he has this problem the whole shape-shifting thing, as in, when he gets nervous, he starts to change uncontrollably until he calms down.

_Theo_, I silently commanded. _Calm down… try to become something non conspicuous… something simple that you'd find in any girl's backpack._

Err, I guess he sort of picked up on that vibe, because, as his little body shook, he settled himself on the best thing he could think of… a tampon.

A felt a warm blush spiral up to my cheeks as Sunshine looked back up at me, eyes wide and surprised. She drew in a breath to scream, and, as she did, I closed my eyes and braced for the worst.

"OH MY GODS, AMY HAS A SHAPESHIFTING TAMPON!"

That earned some odd looks. On different circumstances, I might've been amused, but this was a little too deathly to laugh about. "Sunshine…" I hissed, shutting her up as she came forward to me, leaning down and staring as it trembled under her gaze… (Although, I guess I can't blame him. Like, an hour of sleeping in a dark backpack, and then finally waking up to be greeted by the Hot Topic, Emilie Autumn, Evanescence milk shake that Sunshine was can give you a pretty good jolt.)

I sighed and picked it up by the little string, a piercing look seeming to break through his evil little packaging. Not moments later, however, it was a fleshy pink tail that I held in my hand, and Theo looked at me meekly, letting out a small sob as his little paws flew up to cover his eyes. "I didn't even want to come," he whispered, and Sunshine gasped again.

"HOLY ZEUS! AMY HAS A SHAPESHIFTING, _TALKING_ TAMP—"

"Give it a rest!" I ordered, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her so close that we almost collided foreheads. "I promise, I'll explain everything later, but for now—"

"Guys, look out!" shouted Kris, and we both looked up to find another arrow headed for us. Theo shrieked and swung himself up unto my wrist, scurrying down my arm faster than the wind until, finally, he reached my shoulder and burrowed in my chestnut hair.

This all happened in the split second that the arrow took to nearly skin Sunshine and pass me wide, before finally coming to a sudden halt in the tree that I'd tripped on.

Sarah began to run forward to us as if their were rabid squirrels at her heels, but Rainy held up a hand. "Guys, stop. Nobody move, it's a trap."

"What?" demanded Julia, dropping her backpack, biting her lip and searching the ground around her with one quick swoop. "I don't see anything."

"You're not supposed to," confirmed Kris, her figuring out what this was about. "It's like those trip wire things that you see in all of them mummy movies. You know, a booby trap…"

Leave it to Sunshine to bite her lower lips and start giggling like a 6-year-old at that. "What?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes and pulling back just slightly.

She looked up, eyes hidden behind a lace of dark eyeliner and thing purple veins. "Booby…" she whispered, and laughed again, louder, and a bit more cutting.

"Well…" sighed Rainy, her head leaning forward as she placed a palm atop it, giving herself a sarcastic aura. "At least one of us is mature."

We gave a clean moment for Sunshine to shut up and remember we were about to die, but no pressure or anything.

"Hey…" whispered Theo from his stance on my shoulder, bright eyes gazing longingly across the forest grounds. "Maybe if I went first in a very clean, straight path and all of you very lightly came behind me, I'd be able to spot the wires and warn you about them…"

I sucked in a breath and nodded, squeezing out the sunlight as I muttered, "They're all going to take me as insane, I know it, but…" I looked up and raised my voice just a bit, everyone looking at me intensely.

"Guys…" I began, "this may seem a bit deranged, but you all have to just believe me and listen carefully, then ask quests later. If we're going to get out of this without dying a really horrible death… because seriously, _arrows?_… just follow me."

All I got in response were stares, but that was good enough for me. I reached up to my shoulder, and took Theo's tail in my grasp, taking a deep breath as I lifted him up.

**Sarah's POV 7:40 AM  
**

Oh, gods, the only thing that can get you good and awake before eight in the morning is Sunshine screaming bloody freakin' murder because Amy decided to be a freak and act like some mouse that she held in her hand was the FREAKIN' Queen of England… Ahem.

I covered my ears absentmindedly, knowing that this must be pushing like, 120 decibels, but said nothing for 2 reasons: 1) No one else was saying anything. Becoming the black sheep at the moment didn't seem fun. Also, 2) she acted real serious, which wasn't something common for Amy. Everyone looked from one person to the next, not sure what to say about Amy suddenly walking into Bedlam so casually, but I guess that anything was worth a shot. There was a volley of nodding heads that followed.

Carefully, Amy took a step forward, and then looked around, slowly making her way to the front of the group. About halfway through, she set off another trip wire and an arrow sprang light a lightning bolt, lodging itself into Julia's pack, and Kris, who stood just behind the backpack, lost all the color in her face. Yep, we're gonna die.

"Be careful, would you?" I muttered, and she turned to look at me in dismay with a glare so cold that I shut up right then and looked to the ground.

Hearing a sigh, Amy quickly danced her way up to the top, letting out a sigh and shattering our tight silence.

"Alright, everyone make a line behind the mouse. The forest doesn't go on much further…"

Rainy looked at Amy, displeased. "What do you mean, Amy. That's a mouse!"

"Your not too bad yourself, doll face," retorted the thing, and we all yelped in surprise, excluding Amy, who flicked things nose.

"Shut up," she hissed.

"I'll be quiet when I'm dead."

"That can be arranged," she threatened, and the poor thing fell into silence.

After that, we found ourselves walking forward, carefully and slowly, like we were all sharing the same tight rope with no net beneath us. I could feel my face grow red in frustration and anxiety, both because I was one step away from death, and I was following a mouse into it.

After a few silent minutes of creeping forward, there was an abrupt stop, and I heard the mouse thing whisper, "There's a wire right over there, Amy. Had you taken another step, that arrow over there would've been sprung at us," and his little pink paw motioned forward to an arrow, camouflaged in the tree.

"Okay, I'm convinced," whispered Julia, and quiet murmurs of agreement followed. After a few seconds of thinking on it, I finally realized why we all felt the need to be so quiet: this was day 1 of our quest, and already we'd had a skin with death. My heart skipped a beat, and for a few seconds, I felt like I might faint, but I held my ground, thank the gods.

**Julia's POV 8:20 AM**

Have you ever heard that quote "Go not where the path may lead, instead make a new one"? Yeah, I'm pretty sure some dead guy said it… But whatever, I guess that's kind of my quote for today, considering all the weird stuff happening.

Well, no, "weird" isn't really the right word. Weird is a little more like, "Oh, my toothbrush just grew legs and walked away. What are he odds of that?" It's really more like… spontaneous. That's it!

See, I've kind of felt a bit spontaneous ever since we embarked on this quest. Just as well, this whole day has been really, well, spontaneous. I mean, people falling from trees, arrows flying at us randomly, a shape shifting talking tampon- not your average stroll through the park.

Anywho, we'd been walking for a REALLY long time. I mean, it felt like days, although it could have easily been hours. (I'm gonna go with the hours option.)

I lingered a few feet behind with Sunshine and Kris, all the while staring at the back of my best friend's head in disbelief. She actually _trusted_ that weird little… thing? Well I guess it got us pretty far, and I was pretty sure that the arrows didn't reach this far into the woods. The undergrowth was becoming thicker as the trees grew smaller. I sighed, yearning for the sun to peek through the dark storm clouds above us, even if just for a moment, but I didn't see that happening for quite a while. Rain would be coming soon, and since we were pretty much out of campgrounds, we'd have to put up with it.

"Uh guys… can we _please_ stop? I'm really hungry!" Sunshine complained, piercing through my thoughts like a spear. Snapping back to reality, I looked around slowly, waiting for someone to refute what she had said, but nobody seemed to disagree.

After a short lunch break consisting of whatever we had in our backpacks (three raisins, a granola bar, and some of nearly-anorexic Amy's mini Oreos for me) and a few minutes of sitting down, we were just about ready to get back on the road (oh joy). Now, if I went on to explain every detail of the next hour, you'd get pretty bored. Let me just sum it all up for you in one sentence- we walked a real long time through what seemed to be a lot of the same forest over and over again until we finally found a break in the trees.

"Thank the gods, a sign of civilization!" Sarah said stepping out.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly, it taking me a moment to realize what she meant. We had come across a gravel road. I had never seen it before, but then again I had never exactly been this far out before either. Amy looked back at us and then at the road.

"Let's keep in the brush," she whispered, and then turned away. "The road is too open and we could be spotted too easily." There were twin groans of protest from Sunshine and me before Kris stepped up with a frustrated look.

"Wait," she order, and we all stopped to turn to her. "Are we just going to keep walking around and expect someone to pick us up in the end?" Her voice escalated slightly into a cry of desperation. "This is pointless! We're getting nowhere closer to—to Liz! Can't we just-"

"Kris!" Rainy cut in, her blue gray eyes staring into Kris's brown ones. "We're doing all we can to find her, okay?"

Instead of answering, Kris only looked down.

Silence lingered around us for another couple of minutes as we once again started trudging forward. I saw Amy lean down and hold her hand open for that little rodent, and he promptly flattened himself into a little garden snake and slithered up her arm, coiling up round her neck like a wicked cool necklace. That left us to the summer silence. Leave it to Sunshine to be the one to break it.

"Okay, can we fill up some time here?" She said, staring up at the darkened clouds. "Anyone got any stories to share or something? I'm going to go insane if we keep this up."

"Stories?" I retorted.

"Yeah, I dunno- just something." Her shoulders sagged, as she obviously perceived this as a failure. Amy stopped, fusing herself back into the blob of girls. For a moment, I was about to demand that she explain this whole mouse thing to us, but before I could, she said something that completely caught my attention.

"I know who's got stories." She said, her voice growing curious. This wasn't a good kind of curious. Last time Amy was talking like this, we almost got our heads blown off by a couple of Ares kids. I made a mental note to myself to shut up and keep quiet. That usually seemed to work in times like these. Amy's head twisted around to Rainy. "Rainy, it's been a good year now, and you can't help us for being curious. What happened, you know, in Lithium?"

From the moment those words rolled off the top of her mouth, you could tell she had said something wrong. There was a dead silence as all eyes took to Rainy. Her straight blonde hair seemed to fall in front of her face, and there was an eerie, lost glare in her eyes that I had failed to notice before.

I'm sure you're lost in the dark here, about Lithium, so I'm gonna feed you what I know about it, but don't expect much. No one seems willing to open up and talk about it back at camp; if you ask someone who's been there about it, you're lucky if you can even get them to utter its name.

So last summer, Rainy had been in her hometown, Wisconsin and preparing to come to camp. The night before she was supposed to come, though, she was kidnapped in the night and brought to Lithium. Don't freak when I say this, but Lithium is kinda like a death camp from World War II- only for Half-bloods. You know, a German concentration camp like Auschwitz. Ringing any bells? As far as I'm concerned, it sounded like hell on earth. See, you're freaking out. Well anyway, she managed to survive until the camp was closed down and she was brought back all bruised and battered and stuff. Seriously, we all freaked out; we'd almost lost one of our best friends and didn't even know about it. It's not one of our favorite things to talk about.

I don't know what got into Amy to bring it up now. Rainy took a moment to stare at the ground. I felt a small rain drop prickle the back of my neck as she looked up.

"Have you ever been to hell and back?" Rainy asked. Her voice was light, yet fell down so heavily, and somehow in that instance, we all became anxious. No one answered and Rainy took interest in the sky. "Well…" She trailed. "I have."

Amy looked at her in disbelief. "Huh? That's it?" Great, she decides to get pushy now… Seriously, couldn't this have waited? Rainy remained silent. "But… what about the cells? The conditions? The people running the place?" She just kept digging. Rainy shot her a glare.

"What, you expect me to open up like a textbook and give you a whole run-down of the place?" She shot at her. Amy shrugged.

"Well yeah, kinda." She said. I was beginning to feel like a fly on the wall in the middle of the conversation.

"Guys… stop…" Sarah murmured from the back. The two didn't seem to hear her.

"It isn't that easy, to be so open about something, _especially_ this." Rainy retorted. I felt a few heavier rain drops.

"Rainy, but we're all close friends here right?" Amy said, half sounded like she was whining. I tried giving her a look to get her to shut up, yet she seemed to ignore it.

"You don't understand! This has nothing to do with that! Can we just leave it alone?" Rainy's voice reached new heights- like seriously defensive. It sent chills down my spine hearing it.

"Come _on_!" Amy tried coaxing. "What makes it so hard?" The rain got heavier to the point of near poring. My hair became damp as I pulled up the hood of my sweatshirt as did most of us. Rainy let her hair soak.

"Amy… Rainy…" Sarah squeaked, still ignored.

"Listen," Rainy said, her voice climbing to anger. "I can tell you it isn't a place I ever want to go back to, yet it's a place where I've left behind valuable things…memories…." Her voice cracked.

"Like _what_?" Amy kept digging, showing little remorse.

"I…" I wasn't sure if it was the rain, but I could've sworn I saw a tear in Rainy's eye, as if she was flashing back to something bad.

"Was it something that happened there? Was it something someone did? Was it a person? A friend? A… A boy?" At these words Rainy didn't answer. Amy said it in such a way that made it obvious: someone had told her something that the rest of us didn't know. All I heard was another quiet plea from Sarah.

"Can you guys stop fighting?" She said. Too late.

"How the hell could you bring something like that up?" Rainy said, livid.

"Like _what_ up?" Amy fired back.

"Gods, Amy! You're so… so..."

"So _what_? What am I?"

Rainy grit her teeth before answering. "So fucking detestable!"

"That's it!" Sarah screamed in the back. At that point, we all turned to look at her, and a wave of silence fell upon us. Her face was red with prominent tears streaking down, soaking into her sweater. "I… I…" Her next move was out of total despair for her two close friends. She darted out into the rain-soaked street, having nowhere else to go where she could possibly get away from all of this.

About a few yards up ahead, a large black car swerved around a corner. It was going at an incredibly high speed- right at Sarah. For one second my heart stopped. For one second, each and every one of us held our breath.

And that was all it took—one second—for Sarah to drop to the ground, and not get back up. She'd been hit.

XX

**Ha! I was surprised, too, actually. Rainy wrote all of Julia's POV. I would like to construct a really long and rambly apology with, like, a sobstory or something, but in truth, I just kinda needed to step back from the PJO community, with all the new people coming on and writing their "ZOMG I'M THE CHOSEN WON!!!" stories… And we all know that there'll only be more once the movie comes out. ^_^ Anyways, thanks for waiting, thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed. Please tell us what you think of our work!**

**Just as well, there was a big reference here to Rainy's story, Lithium, which you may want to check out. It's another story that the 2 of us have co-written. :-)**

** Thanks again! Ciao!**


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